New Delhi, 15 Jan 2014: Blair Hilton was the hero for Black Sticks in the quarterfinal. All the New Zealand players jumped for joy and celebrated running into the field as Hilton successfully dodged the Argentine custodian Joaquin Barthold in the sudden death after the regulation time of 70 minutes (1-1) and penalty shoot-out (2-2) failed to break the deadlock.
Then it was sudden death for Argentina. In the first attempt, both Agustin Mazzilli and Hugo Inglis scored for Argentina and New Zealand respectively. However, Argentina’s Lucas Vila failed to beat the Kiwi goalie Devon Manchester while Hilton who took the last attempt once again shot home after deftly pulling the rival goalie to the other side in the one-on-one set-piece drill.
Earlier, Matilli Augustin and Matias Ray scored for Argentina while Blair Hilton and Steve Edwards were successful for New Zealand in the shoot-out where each team took five attempts.
In the regular time, New Zealand began with a 7th minute short corner conversion by Kane Russell, who flicked to the top right corner of the net. Argentina struck the equalizer midway through the second session when Matias Paredes scored a field goal in the 59th minute.
New Zealand will play England in the first semifinal on Friday while Argentina will take on Belgium for the 5th to 8th places.
Kane Russell was declared as the Hero Man of the Match.
In a game that was fast-paced and combative, the New Zealand team began to play with the structure and speed that had been eluding them in the earlier pool matches, a release adds.
Their pressure paid off and they were handed the chance to double their lead when Pedro Ibarra was adjudged to have fouled in the circle. A penalty stroke was awarded and New Zealand captain Dean Couzins stepped up, only to see his stroke hit the post.
Argentina worked hard to put the Black Sticks under pressure, but the Los Leones’ attempts to gain meaningful possession were broken down by the industrious New Zealand midfield. Juan Manuel Vivaldi in the Argentine goal was called into action when Stephen Jenness fired a shot across the front of the goal.
In the second half Argentina began to pile on the pressure. Three penalty corners yielded no results, but the Black Sticks found themselves on the back foot as Argentina built waves of attack. Only determined defending maintained the Black Sticks slender lead, but for the first 15 minutes of the second half, Argentina were camped in the New Zealand half of the pitch.
With 20 minutes left on the clock, New Zealand appeared to have weathered the Argentine storm when they burst free to win a penalty corner. While this wasn’t converted, it did give the beleaguered defence some respite from the continuous Los Leones attack. However, the defence couldn’t hold out indefinitely and the inevitable occurred when Matias Paredes (59′) scored from open play.
As neither team found the net in regular time, the game went to penalty shoot out. At the end of the first round, both teams were drawing, with two successful penalty attempts each.
As the players entered the sudden death round of the penalty shoot out, both Mazzilli and Hugo Inglis scored. Lucas Vila failed to score for Argentina, and it was Blair Hilton who became the hero of the hour as he took the ball wide around the Argentine goal keeper, Joaquin Berthold and scored to put New Zealand through to the semi-finals.
Coach Carlos Retegui said after the match that he thought his team had played a good second half, but that had not been enough to secure the win. “When we started to play we were good,” he added.
Looking forward to his semi final confrontation with England, the New Zealand coach Colin Batch said: “England have been playing very well. We hope they have an off day. We have had an up and down tournament, we have faded during some of our matches and we need consistency over 70 minutes.”
The captain of the Black Sticks, Dean Couzins, said: “This was an exciting way to win. We are really pleased with the first half, but there are still a lot of things we must improve on.”
Explaining his role in the shoot out, goal keeper Devon Manchester added: “I just tried to stay on my feet as long as possible
ends